


Gabriel Agreste and the Black Cat

by poppicock



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Love Confessions, gabenath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 01:43:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16546412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poppicock/pseuds/poppicock
Summary: He had waited patiently for Nathalie to get back from lunch, but didn't expect her to get turned into a black cat during his latest akuma attack.





	Gabriel Agreste and the Black Cat

He had been waiting, in his defense,  _ patiently  _ for Nathalie to return from her lunch break. In  _ her  _ defense, he had an akuma attack the city while she was out, so perhaps she was delayed. 

She would’ve called to say so, at least. 

Well, he was above calling her and demanding to know where the hell she was. 

So, he was sitting on the couches around the runway in his home office, sketching and waiting. It was stupid of him to keep looking over at the office door, but he was a creature of habit. 

A small radio was perched on the catwalk, relaying the news of the akuma attack. His victim was highly efficient, actually. Chat Noir had rejected an invitation to an animal shelter fundraiser (poor Adrien, he had a photoshoot that afternoon), and the shelter worker held a grudge. 

Who knew event planners would be so good at strategically attacking children? It made him want to akumatize Nathalie, just to see how she would fair. 

Insistent scratching noises suddenly interrupted his work, and he looked around the room, trying to place where it was coming from. And, what it was. He had  _ heard  _ the noise before, from somewhere. Then, he remembered housesitting for a great aunt in his teenaged years. 

Gabriel inspected the windows until he found a fluffy black cat, staring up at him. The creature meowed up at him, sitting on the windowsill. 

Pulling out his phone and nearly calling animal control, Gabriel stopped himself when he noticed the cat’s bright blue eyes. The cat’s right ear was dappled in bright red streaks of fur. 

The news on the radio drifted past his ear, and his eyes widened as he unlocked the window, opening it quickly. She must’ve been hit coming back from her lunch break. Guilt filled him as he realized it was all easily-preventable. 

“Nathalie?” He said, shocked and appalled. 

The cat stared at him. 

He bent down, meeting the cat’s eye level. “Blink twice if you can understand me, Nathalie.”

Nathalie tilted her head to the side, and lifted a careful paw, and then pawed at the man’s glasses. Her big tail swished back and forth and her eyes remained wide open. 

Gabriel sighed, “Oh, you’re an  _ actual  _ cat, Nathalie, you poor thing. You don’t deserve this.” 

Slowly bringing a hand up to her, he scratched behind her ear. She pushed her cheek into the touch as began to purr. She stood, pushing until his hand further, until he adjusted and stroked a hand down her back. Nathalie’s tail shot up and she mewed at him. 

“Do not worry, you will be back to normal soon.” He picked her up, holding her in his arms (feet down, he  _ did  _ know that most cats liked to feel grounded), and smiling. “Don’t you know I’m fond of black cats, Nathalie?” 

Nathalie bit at his suit jacket sleeve and he laughed at that, holding her away from him and looking her in the eyes. “Now, you stop that. I thought you were a sweetheart.”

Meowing back at him, he chuckled and pulled him back to her, over his shoulder. “It’s alright, Nathalie. I’m enamored by you, cat or otherwise.” 

She continued purring as he pet her absentmindedly, returning to the couch. “I suppose this is one way to tell you, isn’t it?”

He put her down on the white couch, ignoring how she’d get black fur all over the white couch. Gabriel sat down next to her, and she hopped up onto the back of the couch, biting at his hair. 

Moving out of her way, she jumped back down onto the cushions, pawing his arm and meowing for attention. 

Stroking her ears, he couldn’t help but smile at her. “You’re so cute like this. I mean, you’re cute  _ all  _ the time.” He exhaled. “You’d probably think I was silly, talking to a house cat.”

She climbed onto his lap, paying no mind to the sketchbook he was holding as she stood on his legs, biting at his tie like it had personally offended her.

“I sometimes wish we had met before I met Adele,” he told the cat softly. “It’s not a strong desire of mine, of course, but you’re just...fantastic.” Gabriel relaxed slightly as he pet her absentmindedly. “I cannot possibly explain how much it means to me that you’re here.” 

Nathalie meowed back at him, finally curling into his lap and purring softly. 

“Oh come on, Nathalie,” he told her, “That is not fair, you are way too adorable for this.  _ And  _ in the middle of the workday? You’ll only make me want to take a nap, too.” 

Mewing softly back at him, she shut her eyes even tighter, wrapping her tail around him. 

He rolled his eyes, picking her up and placing her on the couch. Gabriel stood, and removed his suit jacket (covered in cat hair), tie (covered in cat spit and hair), and belt (unscathed for now). He slipped off his shoes and walked away from the creature, before lying down on the end of the couch.

Gabriel was a bit tired. 

As he fell asleep, he felt Nathalie, pad onto his chest, kneading before settling down. Her purrs were melodic, and easy to drift away into a peaceful slumber. 

 

XXX

 

He felt...stirring. Someone warm and comfortable moving away from him. Gabriel wrapped an arm tighter around whoever this was, not wanting to be alone, not wanting to admit that. Damn the consequences, he was  _ not _ opening his eyes yet. Whoever he was holding seemed to give up, relaxing into the spooning position, against him. 

Memories flooded back to him as he floated in between being awake and asleep. Something about Nathalie, his assistant. A black, fluffy cat who had was happy with his affection. Ladybug and Chat Noir must’ve succeeded.

He murmured some apology to her before drifting back asleep. Something mixed with tiredness and feelings of love.

 

XXX

 

Gabriel had pretended to still be asleep, with his arm wrapped around Nathalie’s waist. In truth, he was breathing rhythmically on purpose, observing her form. He had never seen her so disheveled. Nathalie’s blouse had wrinkled and her hair had fallen out of place, long and black and mesmerizing. 

“I know you’re awake,” she whispered. Not moving, not even turning towards him. 

And he had thought she was asleep.

“My apologies,” he replied. “You were turned into a housecat and you came here soon after. We both fell asleep. I didn’t-” Gabriel  _ removed  _ his arm from her waist, several hours too late, idiot, “-intend for any of this to happen, obviously.” 

“Of course,” Nathalie, said, her voice trembling slightly as she thrust her legs off the couch, standing up in a graceful motion. 

Something was  _ off. _

Gabriel sat up, and he was thankful there was not a trace of cat hair on him. “You remember, don’t you?” 

She was focusing on putting her hair back in order, in the familiar bun, with spare bobby pins from her pocket. Nathalie did not require a mirror when it came to her hair. “Yes.”

“You lied to me,” he looked up at her, shocked and appalled. “You  _ batted  _ my glasses.” 

“In my defense, they were shiny,” Nathalie replied simply, looking back at at carefully. “You also looked very smitten with me. I was only curious, sir.”

His expression only formed into a glare. “I don’t appreciate your dishonesty with me.” 

She stared at him. Not mentioning the hypocrisy of his statement, she replied coolly, “You were the one confessing to a cat. One that you knew was me, Gabriel. You only have yourself to blame here.” 

“I do not,” he insisted, “you are equally if not moreso responsible for this.”

Nathalie sighed. “Would you have not taken advantage, if our positions were reversed?” 

Gabriel straightened up. “I don’t think you would be nearly as kind to me as I you, Nathalie.” 

She smiled at that, bending down to rub her thumb over his cheek and ear. Her fingers brushed against his neck, but she did not quite pull away. Neither did Gabriel, frozen and blushing under her touch. The only thing left to do was stare at her, with a wide-eyed expression. He knew in the back of his mind that he had done the same to her mere hours ago, but he had forgotten how nice it was to be touched.

“Don’t be absurd,” she murmured, her tone betraying a sweetness to her. “You’re smarter than that, aren’t you? You think I don’t feel somewhat the same?” 

“Somewhat.” 

Did he always have to focus on the wrong thing? 

Her hand drew back. “You have my attention, Gabriel. I’m certainly interested. I  _ like  _ you, and it’s so rare for me to like anyone.  _ However, _ ” she added quickly. “It’s well past midnight, now. I should be getting home to process all of this, and how I’d prefer to go about things moving forward.” 

She gestured towards all of him. “Do you have anything else you’d like to add to the overdramatic events of the afternoon, Gabriel?” 

He stood up, finally, taller than her. There was some instinct to kiss her, pull her back to him, and beg her to stay. That would’ve worked with someone else. Instead he retreated, walking away from her to retrieve his discarded clothing and shoes. “That will be all, Nathalie. We can discuss rescheduling today’s missed appointments later.” 

Nathalie seemed to relax at his. “Yes. Of course. Have a good evening, Gabriel.” 

_ Gabriel.  _ Clicking his tongue at this decrease in formality, he chose not to say anything as she gathered her things and left. After all, things were about to change, and he was not sure if it would be for better or for worse. 


End file.
